News

Safety Preparations for Fall

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Last winter several members completed a safety study for the club. The report is linked here. Please pay special attention to page 9 as it lists the new requirements and recommendations for safety.
Some of the recommendations are for individuals or skipper. I wanted to get these out to the members in time to get prepared for fall sailing, which starts on September 11th. Please read the points below and take appropriate action.
  • All competitors are strongly encouraged to carry both a safety whistle and a rescue knife in or tethered to their PFD.
  • PRSA sailors are strongly encouraged to have a VHF radio on board for use in case of emergency.
  • PRSA sailors are strongly encouraged to carry a cell phone (in a waterproof case) for emergency use.
  • All vessels should have the following on board:
    • an extra line suitable for towing
    • a bucket or other appropriate device for bailing.
  • PRSA sailors should assess the condition of their safety equipment (i.e., PFD’s) prior to the season and at regular intervals throughout the season, to ensure that they are in good condition and properly sized for the crews that will be sailing the boat.
Thank you again to the members who worked so hard on this study to put all this together.
Results

2022 Spring Series Results

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We had 20 races over 8 Sundays.   Not all classes competed in all 20 races.  To qualify, the boat must have sailed in 50 percent or more of the races in which at least one boat from the class competed.   Boats that did not qualify have an # by their number.

These are preliminary pending corrections and interpretation of the NOR.

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2022_Spring_Series_Buccaneer

2022_Spring_Series_FlyingScot

2022_Spring_Series_I20

2022_Spring_Series_Laser

2022_Spring_Series_Lightning

Results

2022 Spring Series #7 (May 22)

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Dana Howe ran the races.  Thank you!

This is being posted late.  Sorry.

2022_Spring_7_Albacore

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2022_Spring_7_FlyingScot

2022_Spring_7_I20

2022_Spring_7_Laser

2022_Spring_7_Lightning

Races 15-17

Notes:

Sail number 806 is listed twice on the finish sheet for I-20s in race 3.  I recorded the first finish.

Sail number 67 is listed on the finish sheet for Lightnings race 2, but I don’t have that boat registered.

 

 

News

Friday Night Concert/Jazz Sail

The Friday Night Capitol Riverfront Concert Series is kicking off on June 10th, this Friday! It’s a free concert on Friday nights at The Yards Park; which is on the Anacostia near Nationals Stadium. The concerts start at 7:00 pm and the first band playing is La Uncia who play Irish Latin Rock. There are more details about the bands and concert if you follow the link below.

The Yards Park is about a 45 minute sail from WSM, give or take the wind levels. The plan would be to leave the docks around 6:15pm to give time to sail over and listen to the first half of the concert.  On June 10th the sun sets at 8:32 pm and nautical twilight until 9:44 pm. Leaving after the first half should give enough time to sail back to the marina with plenty of light.

Boats under 7 meters (23 feet) are required to “keep ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern (flashlight) that shows a white light”. So skippers should keep this in mind and bring a flashlight just in case getting back takes longer than planned. It’s also suggested to bring an anchor, as there may be other boaters and being able to stop and listen is helpful.

https://www.capitolriverfront.org/do/friday-night-concert-series-1

Results

2022 Spring Series #6

The weather looked like it was going to be a gray bummer but the  wind came up to 8 mph and the sun came out. It ended up to be a beautiful day for sailing and we got 5 races in. We started with a 1lap race when the wind looked like it might not fill it, then switched to 2 laps once the wind and sun came out. Each fleet got another 1 lap race to end the day. There were 3 Albacores, 3 Buccaneers, 3 Lightnings, and 6 I-20s. Thanks again to Jess, Dana, and Eva for helping out on RC.

— Tom Hutton

PS: The protest was about using kinetics, i.e. rocking the boat to gain speed.

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2022_Spring_6_Lightning

News

2022 Spring Series #4

John Van Voorhis ran the races with Jim Greenly on the signal boat and Tim O’Brien and Pam Maple on the mark boat.

John  reports “Nice south breeze as we set up switched to SSE.  Edited first start  and then to ESE for second start. ”

John sent us home at the end of the third race as the western sky was looking ominous.   That front sucked up all the wind as the sailors made for home.  Paddles came out on some boats.  Then a gentle rain helped the sailors clean their boats before putting them away.  🙂

Congrats to the I-20 fleet for fielding five boats, their largest start to date.

2022_Spring_4_Albacore

2022_Spring_4_Buccaneer

2022_Spring_4_I20

2022_Spring_4_Laser

2022_Spring_4_Lightning

 

Results

2022 Spring Series #3

It was a very very light wind day.   Nevertheless, the cranes were working and the water temp was up to 60 degrees so 16 boats launched and with the help of the flooding tide slowly made their way up the river.

The winds were forecast to be light and from the NW and eventually clocking to the east and picking up.  But they were not.  Any puff of wind that was came from the WNW.

The RC decided to spare the sailors trying to get all the way to Haines Point where the winds were no better, and set up a course on the other side of the airport landing pier.    That despite only four feet of depth but with the hope that as the tide continued to flood the depth would get better.

The first race was declared a W-2 but the RC decided to shorten at the leeward mark with the hope the wind was going to clock to the north.   The RC reset for a more northerly wind but, alas, it came back to the WNW.  So race 2 was a port tack start and a reach-reach course.  Oh well.   The RC was still hoping for that north wind to fill in for a third race, but it was not to be and the sailors were sent home around 2:30.

RC was Nabeel Alsalam, John Hart, and Henry Rood on the 19 and Michael Bors and Peter Pietra on the 17.

2022_Spring_3_Albacore

2022_Spring_3_Buccaneer

2022_Spring_3_I20

2022_Spring_3_Laser

2022_Spring_3_Lightning

Results

2022 Spring Series #2

It was a cloudy chilly day with air temps in the 50s.   That, cranes that don’t work, a small craft advisory (winds in the teens with gusts up into the 20s), and a scary email about the dangers of falling into cold water (about 52F) kept sailors away.

Nevertheless, Stew Harris, Barney Harris and a team of I-20 sailors took the two skiff out and set up Olympic courses for the two Lightnings, one Albacore, and one Laser.   We all started together.  The Lightnings did not fly their spinnakers.

The wind was a combination of a westly off of the airport and a northerly.   In race 2, Frank Gallagher in Lightning “Resistance Is Futile” couldn’t make the pin and so was very late starting but nonetheless got to the windward mark first because he worked those two winds well.

Barney followed us around and took video with commentary about our sail trim.  That will be posted soon for your education and amusement.

Tyler Philips and Laura Windecker in Albacore “Free Ride” had a classic capsize to windward at the gybe mark in race 3 as they were bearing off for the gybe and were hit by a puff.  I think they should have delayed their gybe until the boat was up to speed in the puff.  But, hey, Monday morning quarterbacking is easy (and fun).

We are using the 3-minute sequences and with higher winds and flapping sails it is easy to miss the sound signals,  So I used my watch as backup.

The results aren’t very interesting with only 1 Albacore and 1 Laser so I won’t post just yet.